


Unknowing About-face

by caacrinolaas



Series: Bad Things Happen Bingo [2]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Bad Things Happen Bingo, Broken Bones, Canon Rewrite, Concussions, Episode: s02e09 The Belly of the Weblum, Galra Keith (Voltron), Gen, Missions Gone Wrong
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-27
Updated: 2019-05-27
Packaged: 2020-03-20 13:26:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,750
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18993544
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/caacrinolaas/pseuds/caacrinolaas
Summary: "Rule number one. It's an important one, so listen closely. Stay away from its face!"BTHB: Communications Suddenly Cut Off





	Unknowing About-face

Prince Lotor described it as being a simple, in-and-out mission. Except it wasn't.

Being the Prince's most trusted General, Acxa was sent with the infamously difficult task of receiving scaultrite from the belly of a weblum. Zethrid and Ezor had both groaned when Lotor first mentioned the beast, and the other three Generals had shot her looks of poorly concealed pity (even Narti had looked pitying- was that even possible?) when Acxa was assigned with the task.

Acxa herself had taken it in stride. She has never questioned Prince Lotor's decisions before, and she will not start now.

Now, the General was slowly traversing the asteroid belt as she followed the blinking screen that was tracking the slow movement of the Weblum. There was no color in sight, everything in sight was grey and dull, lacking any signs of life.

All of this used to be a series of multiple systems. It was as if she was flying through a graveyard.

Once she caught up to the weblum, Acxa's heart nearly stopped at the sheer size of the creature. The pictures and descriptions of it did nothing to do this beast justice, and she found to be overwhelmed with both fear and awe as she blended in with the broken pieces of the dead planets.

As Acxa flew along the side of the creature, she opened up the camera feeds to the other Generals, causing Ezor to let out a laugh of horror as the other end received the footage.

"Prince Lotor, I... may I ask how I get in, again?" Acxa's voice was embarrassingly small and she prayed it wasn't noticeable through the comm line. She felt small in front of this massive beast.

"The only way to get in is by approaching it's blind spot, located on the back." The smooth voice of the Galran Prince calmed her nerves as she relocated her landing spot. "You activate the Weblum's defense mechanism only after you're inside."

"Right." Suppressing her nerves, Acxa gripped the handles tightly as she slowly approached the giant creature. "Heading in now."

Acxa wanted to ask why they even needed the potentially fatal to obtain scaultrite in the first place, but she bit her tongue. It wasn't her place to question Prince Lotor's decisions.

Landing the ship, the General looked around for the gills. Even with Prince Lotor's vast expanse of knowledge of the universe, writings about weblums are very hard to come across due to how most people who have come across them don't live to tell the tale. The most they knew was to stay out of it's line of sight and that the scaultrite glands were near the stomachs.

While it would be easier to go in directly, the craft was small enough to fit as she made her way towards the edge of the weblum's head. Hopefully.

Sound doesn't travel through this area of space, but the sudden rumbling from below the ship was likely caused by the weblum. She hoped it wasn't roaring in response to it sighting her ship.

Either way, there was no backing out now. Acxa shifted the controls and began her descent into the weblum as another rumble came from the beast.

A sudden cry of alarm from one of the other Generals was cut off as her entire field of vision went white, and the control panel went completely red as alarms blared around her. There was no time to figure out what was happening as all sense of direction was lost as the ship was tossed around from the blast.

Once she repositioned the craft, she looked around to find that everything was dark. Not the way space was dark, no, it was a deep, deep blue. Tapping into the other camera feeds, Acxa found that she was still outside, but she was facing a slowly approaching wall of red and black and blue and a bright white center that was going to swallow her _and why wasn't the communication system turning back on_ -

It's jaw closed faster than what would be expected of a beast so massive, ramming against the underside of the ship. The alarms were still blaring into her eardrums as Acxa attempted to somehow get out of here, this thing is going to kill her, but nothing was responding as she hurtled directly into the weblum's throat.

Blinding pain went through her body as her upper body was slammed against the control panel, an audible crunch to her own ears followed by a scream. The lack of gravity was nauseating as the ship tumbled in all directions while she fell, that combined with the pain coursing through her body caused her to heave against the flickering panels.

The ship hit against the side of the weblum's esophagus, and Acxa's vision went white as her broken rib cage was forced back into the seat. Her vision receded rapidly as the pod hit against the walls again, and again, and again...

It must have been an act of mercy that a final crash knocked her head against the side of the craft, unconsciousness shielding her as the ship continued to fall deeper into the weblum.

___________

While waking up was not a pleasant experience, the first full thought she had was surprise that she woke up again in the first place.

Acxa's head was pounding like it was being hit repeatedly with a hammer. But despite the excruciating pain, she began to go through the checklist.

Limbs. They didn't hurt when moved, thank the stars, and the fact that she could feel them in the first place ruled out any nerve damage. However, she could hardly move them as the cockpit was nearly crushed from the landing, effectively pinning her down.

Abdomen. There were several shards of glass imbedded in her side, none large enough to have her worry about bleeding out if she removed them.

Ribs. Definitely several broken. Her breathing was ragged hard to come by, but not enough to suspect a punctured lung. If anything, her air was running low in the cockpit, and she would have to convert to using her armor soon if she wanted to live.

Head. Likely a concussion, if not worse.

If Acxa was attacked now, she would certainly be done for. There was no way she could properly collect scaultrite in this condition.

She had to get out of here.

Pain sheared through her upper body as she shifted to click on the communications. If it weren't for the level of pain she was in, Acxa would be wallowing in embarrassment from the mission failure, but right now all she cared about was getting out of this monster's insides before she bled out, starved, dehydrated, or...

A consistent dripping was leaking in from the cracked walls of her ship, and Acxa readjusted her hand to have some land on her hand. The dim lights of her helmet flicked on as her suit analyzed the foreign substance, and she froze as the result popped up in front of her. It was stomach acid.

Acxa had landed in the Weblum's stomach. The only thing preventing her from being digested was the miraculously intact but heavily damaged ship. Her movements became frantic as she attempted to turn on the communication system. Even if they had no way of getting her out, she had to try.

No response from the controls when she attempted to click on the comms. Though the screen popped up, there was nothing but static as she flicked through the different frequencies. Everything was dead.

With a final push against her screaming muscles and headache, Acxa shoved against the door only to be found with resistance. There was something preventing her from opening the door, something that blocked all light and cameras. It looked like the ship wasn't preventing her from being digested after all.

The combination of this realization as well as the movement caused her to be hit with a wave of dizziness, and whether the sudden difficulty breathing was from her ribs or sheer panic, she wouldn't have been able to tell.

Acxa leaned back against the seat again in order to calm her breathing as her vision began to tunnel, but relaxing did nothing to prevent the overwhelming dizziness. All she could do was make sure she didn't lose herself to the rising fear gripping her insides. The last thing she needed was her ribs to be jostled by a panic attack, but her slowly fading senses did nothing to relieve her anxieties.

Her ears were consumed by a ringing static, and the last of her vision faded away.

___________

The next time Acxa awoke, it was to the sound of slashing.

Blinking her eyes open in instinctive alarm, she found that she felt significantly better than when she had passed out, making her guess that she was unconscious for a long period of time. The pounding in her head had dulled to a gentler thrum, unpleasant but bearable; the fractured ribs were mending quickly enough that there was already a marked improvement.

In simple terms, she didn't feel to be on the brink of death anymore.

Another slash. Light poured into her vision as the material covering the glass was ripped in half.

Acxa barely had time to register the figure standing over her ship before she heard a muffled voice, something about staying back, and then glass shattered all around her as a powerful blade was plunged through the window.

Was it one of the Generals? Prince Lotor? Her ship was so clearly Empirical, this must be someone aligned with the Galra Empire if they were rescuing her.

The figure reached out a helping hand, and Acxa hissed in pain as they half-dragged her out of the destroyed ship. However, she had no time to get her bearings or get a proper look at her savior as she was disarmed and thrown aside.

When she looked up again to see who exactly had freed her, the stolen gun was trained directly at her head.

It was the Red Paladin of Voltron.

A million questions raced through the General's mind as she faced her adversary. While Prince Lotor was already well aware of the second rise of Voltron, the last place she expected to encounter the Paladins was in the dripping, stench-filled, disgusting belly of a Weblum.

The Red Paladin didn't appear to be that much shorter than her, but the difference was enough that it was noticeable at first glance. Unlike her mirrored mask, the Paladins' masks were partly see-through.

And as expected, the alien Paladin didn't look too friendly. This was beginning to feel like it was going to turn into a hostage situation.

"You're Galra."

 _You just figured that out, huh_. She wanted to retort, but bit back the words. Concealing her identity would be the best course of action if she wanted to avoid getting her appearance into Voltron's database.

Suddenly creatures emerging from the weblum's sides flew in from all around. Based on the Paladin's reaction, they weren't friendly.

An idea sparked in her mind as she looked back at her mangled ship. While the Paladin was momentarily distracted, she began hastily typing a sequence into her suit's console. This Paladin was clearly no pushover given how efficiently he had disarmed her. However, if she wanted to complete her mission properly, the General would have to attempt to work with Voltron. For now.

Only after the ship began to flash red did the alien Paladin realize what she was doing. "You're turning this ship into a bomb."

 _A bit slow on the getup, aren't you?_ Another bit back response as the creatures began to attack, and she jumped off the ship-turned-bomb to avoid the blast.

The Paladin summoned his shield as the craft exploded, protecting both himself and the General, and they continued to fall until they were in another area of the weblum.

This is the second time he's saved her skin despite being a clear enemy. Perhaps she can work with him better than she initially thought.

The Paladin was still struggling to get up after they landed, and Acxa took the opportunity to leap forward and grab her gun, firing at the creatures that threatened to attack them again. Her ribs were stinging from the excess movement, but this Paladin was both her life and scaultrite insurance.

"I guess you can keep your weapon." She would have kept it anyway. Acxa doubted this intellectually slower Paladin would be able to compete with galran strength even while she was injured.

As they entered yet another looming area of the weblum, she startled as she looked up to see another Paladin flying down to meet the two of them. While the lighting prevented Acxa from getting a good look at the uniform, the new face looked to be the Yellow Paladin. They were larger than the Red Paladin but appeared to be the same species based on facial and bodily structure.

"Keith! Keith, you made it!" An alien name befitting an alien Paladin. Acxa made a note to write it down into the database, though she doubted she would know how to spell it. "We both made it! Who is this?"

"Someone I found. He doesn't talk much." The incorrect pronouns only gave her a small sense of relief. The Paladins of Voltron don't recognize the armor Prince Lotor and his Generals wear. That could be advantageous in the future. "Also, he's Galra."

"What, do you guys all know each other?" The Yellow Paladin joked, but the other didn't look amused at the quip.

_Do you guys all know each other?_

Is the Red Paladin... galran?

"We're Paladins of Voltron. We can't just leave people to die even if they are galra." He continued talking to the other Paladin, but Acxa's thoughts were whirling too quickly to focus on the rest.

 _We can't just leave people to die even if they are galra_. No, that's not right. Voltron has never showed mercy to the Galra Empire before, neither to the military nor it's civilians. The Yellow Paladin didn't seem so keen on the idea of keeping her around. The Red Paladin has ties to the Galra.

It wasn't her concussed head, then. Team Voltron has someone galran piloting one of it's lions.

What was she supposed to make of that?

Based on appearance, it was likely he was only half galra. Either that or- given his height- a child. Perhaps he was both. Acxa doubted a full-blooded adult galran soldier would be welcomed onto the Castle of Lions with open arms, especially not given the slew of harsh words the ancient Altean Princess Allura had thrown at the God-Emperor.

So the Red Paladin is like the other Generals. Like her.

But not like her, because he is a traitor to his own kind. Despite all that she had traveled working for Prince Lotor, she has never seen someone half galra align against the Empire before. It hadn't even occurred to her as a possibility, and yet living proof against that line of thought was standing in front of her now.

A pit settled in Acxa's stomach, but she quickly brushed it off as disgust towards the Paladin for betraying his own bloodline.

(That feeling did end up being disgust, it just wasn't aimed at him. It was at the Empire for making her think that she had only one path in life.)

Once the Paladins managed to activate the scaultrite glands, Acxa stood back until the Red Paladin (Keith, she recalled, how do you even begin to spell that?) began to bag the material. Now was her chance to complete her mission.

Aiming her gun at his head, she was mildly put off by how he didn't look hurt nor surprised at her sudden betrayal. In fact, the other galran looked entirely unperturbed.

"So you're just like the rest of 'em."

Acxa bit her tongue despite not knowing what she even wanted to say. It was definitely not the first time she has received disapproval for who she was, but for the first time in deca-phoebs, the comment stung.

Grabbing a bag of scaultrite, she turned her back on the Paladin and fled. The General didn't know what her next course of action is, but avoiding Voltron was crucial.

Though she had a feeling this wasn't the last time she'll see the rebel galra. A more traitorous part of her hoped for it.

**Author's Note:**

> No, I didn't watch the episode for the sole purpose of writing this, I looked up the script. :p
> 
> Also, I definitely think that Acxa's idea of half galran citizens were skewed by the empire. Keith is definitely not the first rebel to exist (Antok and Regris are probably not full galra), but her viewpoint was probably very limited until she realized wow, you DONT have to be aligned with Lotor to climb the social ladder? It's the propaganda


End file.
